It’s officially getting pretty hot and dry around here.
We’ve officially got the distinction of “Moderate Drought” from the USDA drought monitor. It’s nothing compared to last summer, but it is presenting us with a problem here on the new farm.
The pond is a bit leaky, so without any new rainfall, it just went ahead and dried up.
Unfortunately, the bull, cows and young calves are all back grazing the pasture around the pond. They’ve suddenly run out of water to drink.
Some quick fencing was in order.
A small alley was fenced off with polywire to let the cows come up to the pasture behind the barn.
We’ve got a 6′ stock tank in that pasture, fed by about 300′ of above-ground hose that’s coming from the one outdoor hydrant on the entire farm, right next to the well house.
The hose and tank aren’t exactly a permanent solution, but they’ll get us by until we can put in something a little better.
The bull certainly wasn’t complaining, just as long as he had some water for he and his ladies to drink.
Oh well, it could always be worse.
Old timers say to fix a leaky pond is to throw some corn in there now while it is still damp before it gets too dry and let your pigs wallow in the pond. I know if you have ever seen a place where a pig wallows it holds water.
I may just have to try that. We don’t have much fence back there, but I have heard of people spreading bentonite and letting cattle stomp it in